My little action hero
by Lady Strallan
Summary: Doctor Robert Romano saves the day but at what cost to himself.
1. Default Chapter

Dr Robert Romano was making his way as inconspicuously as he could, through the hellhole that was the ER. He wanted to get upstairs and into the sanctum that was his office, without being waylaid; he was not in the mood to talk to anyone this morning. Just as he made it to the elevator doors, he heard Kerry Weaver calling out his name and groaned inwardly.

"Robert have your heard anymore about the extra funding we've requested for more nurses?"

"Kerry I told you yesterday…you'll hear when…" Robert stopped mid sentence, as he saw something out the corner of his eye, that his mind registered as dangerous and sickened him to his stomach. Without thinking, he knocked Kerry to the floor, before shielding a little girl with his body. He felt a sharp pain slam into his shoulder and then again to his chest. Looking down at himself, he saw a pool of crimson begin to stain his shirt before he felt himself fade to black as his head connected hard with the floor.

Kerry pulled herself together and struggled to stand. She was about to ask Robert what the hell he thought he was playing at when she froze in horror…she saw two police officers nearby open fire on a gunman who seemed to be aiming straight at her. He crashed to the ground in front of her…

When all the shooting stopped, Kerry raised her head and looked quickly around. She saw the gunman and could tell straight away he was dead as his vacant eyes stared straight back at her. She saw the little girl who had been stood nearby them waiting for the elevator, now crying into her mother's arms. She looked herself over and breathed a sigh of relief that she seemed to be ok.

Then she saw Robert. He was lying on the floor unconscious and bleeding heavily.

Her medical training kicked in and she went over to him checking for a pulse; she let out a sigh of relief as she found one.

"Dr Carter get a gurney over here now!" she screamed…

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Dr Corday groaned to herself…she had been paged down to the ER yet again. The doors swished open and she wondered what the hell was going on when she stepped out of the elevator into chaos. There were police offices all over the place, taping off the area in front of her, screaming at her not to contaminate the field. She looked down to the floor and registered with horror a gold stethoscope covered in blood. She heard Abbey frantically shouting out her name and felt bile rose up into her throat as the implication of everything struck her…

"Dr Corday we need you in trauma one NOW!"

As she ran, though the doors she could not believe the scene in front of her………Robert was lying on the gurney bleeding heavily.

She stood momentarily frozen in shock before she managed to find her voice "What happened?"

"Its Dr Romano he's been shot twice, once though the shoulder and once though the chest. He's loosing a lot of blood," replied Dr Weaver.

Just then, the heart monitor flat lined and Elizabeth rushed forward.

"Clear!" She shouted as she grabbed the paddles, and shocked him…. nothing….

"Clear!" she called again.

Everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief as the tell tale beep returned and they got him back.

"We need to get him up to surgery NOW before the bullets do any more damage!"

TBC

R&R


	2. 2

Elizabeth began to scrub in. As the soap escaped her hands for the third time, she finally acknowledged her nerves. Not since Lucy had she been so nervous about a procedure. But she could not allow herself to think about that now; Robert needed her full attention if he was to survive and she needed to be at her very best.

"Are you ready?" said a voice from bedside her.

She had not even realized that Donald had entered the room, never mind that he was stood scrubbing beside her! Elizabeth dipped her head slightly and stepped away from the sink her hands raised. Donald eyed her carefully and stood in front of the doors blocking her way.

"If you feel you can't perform this operation I will understand - no one will think any less of you."

She straightened herself up and looked Donald in the eye.

"What and pass up the chance to gloat over Robert how I saved his life after _he _risked his to save Kerry - I don't think so!"

"Well when you put it like that I think we'd better get a move on," he said and smiled.

_Three hours later_

The theater was oddly quiet as they operated. There was none of the usual banter, as conversation was kept to a minimum with instructions from Elizabeth or Donald. Outside interested parties tried to peer in to see if their Chief of Staff was going to make it…

After the surgery, Elizabeth went directly to the locker room and got changed. She felt drained. On her way out, she stopped by recovery to check on Robert before she left.

When she entered the room, she found Donald and Kerry already there.

"How is he Donald?" Kerry asked.

"Well he's still critical but in a stable condition. We have stopped the internal bleeding but I am still concerned about the risk of infection. Also, one of the bullets may have caused nerve damage to his left arm."

"God I hope there's no permanent damage - I can't imagine him not being able to operate," said Elizabeth. She turned to face Kerry and asked, "Do we know exactly what happened yet?"

"I'm afraid not. We know nothing about the man or how he got past security," said Kerry. She turned to look at Robert. "All I know is that he saved mine and that little girl's life today. Does he have any family that we should contact?" she asked.

"We rang the emergency contact number that was on his file, but it's not in use. It was for his mother, but I guess he never kept the information updated. I don't even know if she's still alive," Donald said shaking his head sadly.

Elizabeth stared at Robert for a second.

"I wonder if there's anyone here who knows anything about Robert outside this hospital - it's amazing how you can work beside someone for years and know hardly anything about them."

"Well Robert always kept people at arms length. I'll call his house tomorrow - maybe he has a house keeper who can help," said Kerry as she left the room.

"Well I don't know about you Elizabeth but I think I need to go home to my family and maybe have a rather strong drink. Can I offer you a ride?"

"No thanks Donald I have my car today."

Then they turned and left, leaving the sleeping form alone in the darkened room.

Please R&R


End file.
